Dear OU Community,
Welcome to a new year at the University of Oklahoma!
There has never been a more exciting time to be a Sooner. Across every corner of our university, OU is experiencing remarkable momentum – welcoming more students, advancing groundbreaking research, transforming health care, and creating an unparalleled student experience. And as we begin another year together, each of you is helping write the next chapter of this incredible story.
This fall, we are welcoming the largest freshman class in state history, with a record 6,437 students joining the Class of 2030. This milestone marks our sixth consecutive record freshman class, including a record number of Oklahomans for the fourth straight year – and remarkably, 37% of our Oklahoma freshmen are the first in their families to attend college. In just six years, our incoming class sizes have surged more than 45%, and across our campuses, enrollment is growing at the fastest pace we’ve seen in five decades. That kind of sustained growth is exceedingly rare in higher education today, and it speaks volumes about what students and families recognize in OU: an exceptional education and an unforgettable college experience, at a value that keeps the American Dream within reach.
Enrollment is only one measure of our progress. Our research enterprise has grown by more than 70% in just six years, and through Project 200, we are making an unprecedented investment in the people and ideas that will propel us even further – because we believe the research happening at OU will change our state forever. This summer, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of OU Health as Oklahoma’s leading academic health system, and we have now shattered fundraising records for three consecutive years – further evidence of the confidence and excitement surrounding our university.
Everywhere we look, our campuses are being transformed to match the university we are becoming. South Hall is welcoming its first residents, the new Life Sciences Laboratories Building is rising in the heart of the Norman campus, and construction of the new OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center in Tulsa is quickly taking shape – extending world-class, research-driven cancer care to even more Oklahomans. The new Oklahoma Children’s OU Health Behavioral Health Center will open later this year on the OU Health Campus, delivering life-changing medical care to our state’s most vulnerable children.
The excitement extends across Sooner Nation, with two national championships to celebrate and the Palace soon coming alive for another thrilling season of football.
Taken together, these milestones tell an unmistakable story: The University of Oklahoma is growing in size, strength, reach, and impact – and we are just getting started. We are proving what is possible when an entire university sets its sights higher, moves with purpose, and never stops pushing toward what comes next.
Whether you are stepping onto campus for the first time or have called this university home for decades, you are part of this defining moment. I hope you embrace all that this year has to offer and take pride in the role you play in OU’s continued success.
Our best days are still ahead, and I couldn’t be more excited about where we’re going together.
Here’s to an extraordinary year at OU.
Live On, University,
Joseph Harroz, Jr.
President
